Search resumes for missing girl -- still no breakthrough

By Stewart Huntington&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Wed 5:22 PM, Feb 13, 2019&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Thu 1:15 AM, Feb 14, 2019

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA TV) -- The search for Serenity Dennard, the 9-year-old girl who went missing in steep forest terrain on Super Bowl Sunday, resumed Wednesday near Rockerville but resulted in no break in the case.

Nineteen searchers from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, Pennington County and Search and Rescue, Rapid City Police Department and Rockerville Volunteer Fire Department went over some territory near the Black Hills Children's Home where Serenity was last seen. No searchers went out Monday or Tuesday after a massive effort over the weekend.

The cold and snowy weather pattern that has dominated the area since Serenity's disappearance has hampered searchers who look to seize any slight opening they can.

"We wanted to take advantage of the weather," said Gail Schmidt, a Pennington County Search and Rescue team member who is also the fire chief for the Rockerville Volunteer Fire Department. "It was fairly warm yesterday and things melted a little yesterday. We saw some of the creeks melt and some of the snow melt on some of the hill sides. The weather's pretty nice today and we wanted to get one more opportunity out there to look at some high priority areas close to the Children's Home and see if we could get our eyes on Serenity."

Future search plans will be decided on a day by day, authorities say, pending a break in the weather or any new information investigators uncover.

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